58 schools damaged in EC floods
Eastern Cape Education MEC Fundile Gade says, as of Tuesday afternoon, 58 schools across the province had been affected by devastating floods.
Gade gave an update on his department during a media briefing convened by Premier Oscar Mabuyane in Mthatha on Wednesday.
Scores of residents have been displaced, while the death toll from the disaster stands at 49.
READ: Eastern Cape floods death toll rises to 49
Gade says the worst-affected regions are in the OR Tambo, Amathole, and Alfred Nzo municipalities.
“In terms of the learner numbers that could have been affected, we were looking at about 6038 learners that were affected because of the 58 schools.”
Officials confirmed that ten pupils were among the deceased after the scholar transport they were travelling in was swept away by the raging floodwaters on Tuesday.
Four children were positively identified, while four others remain missing.
READ MORE: 10 bodies recovered in Mthatha as search efforts continue
Premier Mabuyane said infrastructure technical teams had been dispatched across the province to assess the damage and advise on interventions that are needed.
“At this stage, 20 health facilities have suffered damages to varying levels. In terms of road infrastructure, engineers are on the ground assessing the impact on our road networks, including rural roads.
“The R58 Khowa to Barkey through the Barkely is now open. We encourage motorists to exercise extreme caution as the road is still wet and therefore slippery.”
According to the government, electricity was restored for an estimated 136,000 customers over the past 48 hours after 300,000 people were affected by outages.
Eskom officials are still working to reach other affected customers.
Meanwhile, Mabuyane described the disaster as the worst he had ever seen.
“We are now a disaster-prone province. For the last two to three years, we have experienced these torrential rains, but more in the summer. We always knew that we could have a disaster of snow in winter, but we have never seen this kind of combination of snow and torrential rains in winter simultaneously.”
Further updates are expected as the mop-up operations continue.
